Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I could find a right forum for this. No, I'm not messing with Matt. Somebody else is, and I guess Matt could use a little help and support. Not that he asked me to ask you, but shit is being dropped on him, so if anybody can help, now is probably a good time.

Matt is manning the Burning Man live stream this year. A number of people start pirating that stream and putting their own ads on, which runs right into de-commodification. Not cool. Matt filed complaints, and got the pirate streams taken down. I guess some entitled youtube was feeling butthurt about that, because the real Burning Man stream got taken down just a short while ago by a false flagging. Obviously, Burning Man has the authority to represent itself as Burning Man, but now the stream is marked as having been taken offline for being "fraudulent." The fuckwit of the year is the person who did the false flagging, whoever that is.

I know that a number of Google executives go to Burning Man. There's some good will there and some people who could probably help streamline things for Matt, because he's trying to do something legitimate and trolls are sabotaging. If anybody reading this has somebody in camp who works for Google, now is a good time to ask for a small favor. Matt shouldn't have to deal with this, and his viewers shouldn't have to, either.

I'm about to go outside. We're having a nice day in Chicago, and in early September one always has to wonder how many more of those there will be. I won't be here to answer any more questions, but Matt will be and he's the guy who knows what's going on. I'm just a nobody who told you what he just saw, with not much more information to give.

Matt can be reached at motorbikematt at burningman dot org. He's a nice guy who does a lot for the community. Please, let's have his back. Thanks, and sorry if I stepped on any toes.

OK, this is where I give up. You guys do know that Chicago is three hours ahead of San Francisco, don't you? We're almost out of daylight and I'm not going to burn any more of it on a fruitless task just because people feel like being uncooperative. Yes, I know - radical self-reliance, but what do you say we use a little common sense? Expecting me to burn away a summer day indoors, while living in a cold climate, just because nobody feels like bothering to pass along a message (or even an email address) is not reasonable.

I tried, and I'm the only one here who can say that, which I think says something about Burning Man as a community. I'm not even a member of your community and I'm the only one willing to raise a finger to help out one of your volunteers. If you guys want to screw yourselves over just to be hardasses, go ahead. That's on you.

I'm out of here. I've missed most of the day, but at least I have a sunset to enjoy, so fuck you.

I expected one of the few people present to at least have the decency to try to pass along a message to somebody who would help, instead of expecting a stranger new to the community to fumble around to try to find a way to bet into contact. I'm trying to do you guys a small favor, and you want me to jump through hoops because you can't be bothered to help me help you?

Books wrote:... expecting a stranger new to the community to fumble around to try to find a way to bet into contact. I'm trying to do you guys a small favor, and you want me to jump through hoops because you can't be bothered to help me help you? Screw you. That's bullshit.

Emailing you what you can do and providing you with the email addresses you perceive as "jump through hoops"?

And read my prior post.

If you are ever considering going to Burning Man, make sure you read and understand the Principles, the First Timer's Guide and the Survival Guide. Start with the Principles; you'll either understand why I'm making this post or you won't.

Video games are giving kids unrealistic expectations on how many swords they can carry..... but don't harm the red dragon that frequents the area from time to time. He and I have an agreement.

Books wrote:I expected one of the few people present to at least have the decency to try to pass along a message to somebody who would help, instead of expecting a stranger new to the community to fumble around to try to find a way to bet into contact. I'm trying to do you guys a small favor, and you want me to jump through hoops because you can't be bothered to help me help you?

Screw you. That's bullshit.

Books, love your charm and good intentions but this message board is just a big bunch of nobody's just like you.

You should have walked away after the first post and dropped the mike, cuz your follow up has been rude and pissing in the wind.

Now go enjoy your sunshine before the blizzard hits. We will not miss your attitude.

On Mon, Sep 4, 2017 at 8:20 PM, Books and Skin <claiming.my.freedom@gmail.com> wrote:Hi, again, Matt. I took one last look at the discussion on ePlaya, and what do I see? Having wasted a big chunk of a precious warm day in Chicago trying to help out you and your community, and encountering absolutely no cooperation along the way, I got to watch you throw me under the bus to score a few extra points with the trolls for yourself. That was beautiful, Matt. Really.

I'm not sure which was the better part - watching your fellow burners put their own real senses of entitlement on display as they complained about my imaginary one, on the basis that I wasn't willing to stay indoors all day just to help them out on the terms they found agreeable (which involved them doing nothing to help an outsider who was trying to help them), or watching you lie in an attempt to make me look like a liar, after I relayed what you said in the stream. What I am sure of is that I've just gotten a good, deep look into the empty soul of Burning Man, and that your community and festival are not worth my time.

Don't bother to reply, you miserable little creep. I'll be blocking you. The behavior I just saw out of you and your friends might be normal by the standards of your cult-like group, but by the standards of almost everybody else, it is so bizarre and offensive as to be almost unheard of. I almost have to thank you, because I was thinking of going and now I can see what a mistake that would have been.

Have a shitty life, Matt. May misfortune follow you in everything you do until you find your way to an early and un-mourned death. We're done.

and found that the feed was not running. No picture. Clicking on the link to Youtube, I got to where the live webcast was supposed to be,

and saw this lovely message.

"This video has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on spam, deceptive practices, and scams."

You mentioned doing takedowns of a number of people who were running the feed without authorization. I'm guessing that one of them (or one of their friends) retaliated by false flagging your feed. I can guess how easily one could read something into my message that isn't there, when one is under pressure, so I'd like to emphasize that I am not that guy. I'm just a sympathetic third party who is trying to be helpful, and who wished he knew who the coward was, so he could tell you.

Whatever is working at your end, please know that the stream you're sending out is currently going nowhere and that you might want to fix that. I understand that a lot of Google execs go to Burning Man. Maybe one of them can light a fire under somebody? Good luck.

Books wrote:I expected one of the few people present to at least have the decency to try to pass along a message to somebody who would help, instead of expecting a stranger new to the community to fumble around to try to find a way to bet into contact. I'm trying to do you guys a small favor, and you want me to jump through hoops because you can't be bothered to help me help you?

Screw you. That's bullshit.

Books, love your charm and good intentions but this message board is just a big bunch of nobody's just like you.

You should have walked away after the first post and dropped the mike, cuz your follow up has been rude and pissing in the wind.

Now go enjoy your sunshine before the blizzard hits. We will not miss your attitude.